The age of the ‘Industrial Internet’ has arrived and to be successful, companies will need to change the way they do business in the future.
Robots for the Masses
The economic rebound has allowed the U.S. to become more productive than it has experienced in years; however, this has not led to a direct growth of jobs as it has in the past. This is due in part to a notable increase of automation and robotics, resources that are now becoming more accessible to smaller manufacturing entities.
In today’s market, robotics can be acquired for as little as $20,000 and provide up to 6,000 operating hours.
In a recent 60 Minutes interview, Rodney Brooks co-founder of iRobot Corp estimated that the average cost per hour is fewer than four dollars, which is less than that of overseas labor. This new benchmark could change the way products are fabricated and lead to a resurgence of manufacturing in the U.S.
Those that are familiar with the manufacturing industry are aware that robotics technology has long played a role within industrial manufacturing.
In 1985, technologies such as manufacturing automation protocol (MAP) were early experiments for implementing a common technology platform. Large automakers installed fully automated robotics lines and began building vehicles with less human labor.
The situation created a significant cost hurdle that was still more or less too high for a widespread rollout. The required amount of capital investment put robotics out of the reach of most mid market manufacturers.
To paraphrase an old Buick advertisement, the robots on the market today are ‘not your father’s robot’.
Robotics are now more affordable and within the economic reach of mid-market manufacturing. This means that the manufacturing masses can expect tremendous growth in the use of automation. The effectiveness of robotics is not just contingent on cost of ownership.
In order for this technology to become useful, business software systems must take wide scale automation into account.
Beyond low cost machine procurement, companies must invest in training for the machines with simple to use human processes and connect them to the business operating technology fabric.
While this sounds a bit daunting, it is all possible as the technology to accomplish this is available. technology systems that are designed with ‘industrial internet’ in mind are already on the market. The only thing standing between next-gen manufacturing through robotics is a bit of research and an education of what is available on the market today.
